Novel developments towards increased SiC power device and module efficiency

Abstract

Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices have the potential to reduce energy losses in high power applications. However SiC devices have yet to achieve ideal performance levels. This paper presents SiC diodes and MOSFETs with advanced trench structures. These devices succeeded in improving performance by reduction of the internal electric field. Trench Schottky diodes are able to reduce forward voltage drop and double-trench MOSFETs show extremely low on-resistance. In addition, transfer mold type power modules using SiC devices demonstrated high temperature operation and high power density. This transfer-molded module uses a new encapsulation resin allowing operating temperatures greater than 200° while drastically reducing the volume of the module when compared with case type ones.